After a year and bit of pretty sporadic travelling overseas and internationally, I'm starting to travel more and more for work... even to the point where projects start running into each other back to back again. In a way, it is nice to be back working at my main profession and feeling needed for those skills again... but in a way, I had gotten nice and comfortable about not leaving home so often for work. I'm definitely a home-type person, so the choice of being a travelling musician perhaps wasn't the best suited to me... but on the other hand, it wouldn't kill me either, and I do enjoy playing music!

Over this time, I've forgotten some of the packing routines that I have used to have had as second nature or instinct. One of which is the ability to remember how I packed the double case for two violins. My double case is normally set up for one violin and one viola, and so the viola sectionis significantly larger than a violin. Which is a bit of a problem as the violin can move around quite a bit whilst I am travelling with the case, and can smash into the other violin (which will be seated right about it when the case is closed) or just hit the sides (padded) quite hard.

So, normally, I have padded out the violin to support the shoulders and ribs against hitting the sides. The sides are padded, but with enough hard hits... they can still damage the instrument or shake the sound post/bridge out of position. Then I need to have the shoulders pushed all the way down such that the bottom of the violin is under the overhanging section that would normally stop a viola hitting the other side (instrument). I couldn't remember what I had normally used to do all these things... In the end, I settled on chamois leather on both of the sides and some thick socks for the shoulders. The violin doesn't move around now, but I still have this nagging feeling that a year or two ago... I had a better way of doing this! I'm sure it will come back to me...

Anyway... I guess the more interesting part of this post is "WHY" do I need two violins. Well, I have two projects coming up that are back to back... One is a Classical program, which requires a Violin (the top, an 1886 French Violin) set up for A=430Hz with a more agile Classical set up.... and the second project is a Baroque program, which requires a different Baroque set-up (thicker neck, different strings and thicker bridge) for A=415Hz. This is the violin on the bottom (English Violin, c1770). I does sometimes feel a bit weird to think about the fact that I'm carrying around a lump of wood that is roughly the same age as the American Declaration of Independence...

There are now so many more things to think about when travelling... all the extra potential tests and certificates and forms to fill out, and possibilities for quarantine if something goes a bit funny in one of the countries that you visit. I keep forgetting about these things, and I sometimes wonder if I will have all the tests and forms all filled out properly in time or not! Annoyingly enough, I don't recall anything ever being checked after all the bother...

One of the other things that is a sort of mixed feeling... is that my kids are now not wanting me to leave. I guess it is nice to be missed, but I used to be away for weeks and sometimes nearly months on a relatively regular basis (yes, my poor wife...).... and they had gotten used to it, and it wouldn't bother them so much. However, now... when I'm just leaving for a week or so, they are quite upset. Well... mostly it is the older one that is getting more upset, and the younger one senses it and starts to imitate I think.. either that, or they are trying to guilt me a little bit and angle for a nice gift when I return!

... ah shit, I just remembered that I need to fill out an entry declaration (Corona) for the first country that I head to in the morning!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

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